Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Seeing just how high up they are in Fever's recent '85%tile' thread inspires this topic. I have always been fond of this team since that '81 campaign itself.

#3 offense (5.5 Y/P) and #4 defense (4.9) in '81?? Never knew. Of course their double-feather-in-cap are the wins over San Fran & Big D. The only thing that turns me off about them is their road record, an anemic-as-hell 1-7! Yes, 'a loss is a loss', but FWIW they did give the Chargers & Broncos real good games on the road.

End of day, Tampa Bay was indeed the deserving champ of that division. They swept both Detroit and also Green Bay - one lopsided win per sweep. But that de facto 'NFC Central Championship Game' Week #16 at the Silverdome was close, could have gone the other way. I really would have liked to see them take that one. Not sure how they do at Dallas in the divisional, but just the fact that it would have been a rematch of that '12-men' game weeks earlier would have made for intriguing pregame hype. Dallas beating TB in the actual divisional, 38-0, makes you not love Detroit's chances here, but you never know. It still could have been a good game.

I do see this squad as better than their actual 9-7 division winner of '83. Getting off-subject for a sec, to that very season two years later, the other 'instead' playoff match I would have liked to see for 'rematch' purposes, would be Green Bay playing at Washington in the divisional as opposed to the Rams (who, of course, lost that actual divisional at RFK, 51-7). Imagine the Pack, in such a hypo, replicating in the rematch what they did that famous MNF win while Detroit makes that very FG at Candlestick...a Packers at Lions NFCCG!

Anyways, back to '81, the Silver Rush! I would have thought Baker or English would have led Detroit in sacks that year. It was David Pureifory instead at 11.5! He played his very best ball while in the Motor City. The Floyd Peters effect for sure!

Billy Sims and, of course...ERIC HIPPLE!

Thoughts?

EDIT - I see that Pureifory is mentioned in some of Turney's journals.

I lived in Dallas at the time. The Lions beat them on a game-winning field goal with 12 men on the field. Cowboys fans raised holy hell.

Wouldn’t have changed NFC home field advantage as the Cowboys would have been 13-3, but still would have lost the tiebreaker to the 13-3 49ers.

What’s odd about that Lions schedule is that they never played a truly bad team. The 6-10 Rams and 6-10 Bears were the worst teams they played.

Also, I love that 1983 Packers team because it was fun, but it was also very self-destructive (50 turnovers) and the defense was abysmal. Washington would have likely worked them over at RFK, much as I hate to admit it.

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 2:57 pm Also, I love that 1983 Packers team because it was fun, but it was also very self-destructive (50 turnovers) and the defense was abysmal. Washington would have likely worked them over at RFK, much as I hate to admit it.

It couldn't have been any worse than how the mediocre LA Dickersons... I mean the Rams got worked over at RFK.

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 2:54 pm I lived in Dallas at the time. The Lions beat them on a game-winning field goal with 12 men on the field. Cowboys fans raised holy hell.

Wouldn’t have changed NFC home field advantage as the Cowboys would have been 13-3, but still would have lost the tiebreaker to the 13-3 49ers.

With that said..... does DAL/NYG on the final Saturday play out any differently if the Cowboys were actually playing for HFA instead of 'win and put pressure on SF?'

Without 12 men on the field, 13-2 Dallas actually WOULD have had the ball in their court. Heck, the 49ers would have HAD to win at New Orleans instead of knowing the Giants did them a favor.

I think a better way to look at DET's 1-7 road record is this..... which of those losses would you consider most winnable?

Denver? Minnesota? Rams?

Like we've seen plenty of 2-6/3-5 road record teams make the playoffs.

If there is one road game they'd want to have back, it'd be (blank)

CSKreager wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 3:12 pm

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 2:54 pm I lived in Dallas at the time. The Lions beat them on a game-winning field goal with 12 men on the field. Cowboys fans raised holy hell.

Wouldn’t have changed NFC home field advantage as the Cowboys would have been 13-3, but still would have lost the tiebreaker to the 13-3 49ers.

With that said..... does DAL/NYG on the final Saturday play out any differently if the Cowboys were actually playing for HFA instead of 'win and put pressure on SF?'

Without 12 men on the field, 13-2 Dallas actually WOULD have had the ball in their court. Heck, the 49ers would have HAD to win at New Orleans instead of knowing the Giants did them a favor.

Good point. I remember being shocked, SHOCKED, that the Cowboys had lost to the Giants on the road for the second straight season. As a 10-year-old, I couldn't really compute that. Of course, as a 10-year-old, I didn't really get how much better the Giants had become defensively with LT.

CSKreager wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 3:13 pm I think a better way to look at DET's 1-7 road record is this..... which of those losses would you consider most winnable?

Denver? Minnesota? Rams?

Like we've seen plenty of 2-6/3-5 road record teams make the playoffs.

If there is one road game they'd want to have back, it'd be (blank)

Just saw 'A Matter of Seconds, the Saga of the 1981 Detroit Lions' - solid stuff! Yes, Chargers and Broncos weren't the only close road-losses they suffered!

As for your question, it'd be better if it was a conference loss being taken back instead. Otherwise, with the Lions 9-6 going into that finale instead of 8-7, it'd still be do-or-die. But if its a conference road-loss we're flipping into a win, this makes Detroit going into the finale with a 7-4 conference record instead of 6-5. This means that even if they still lose to Tampa Bay, they get the wild card nod (off to Philly) over the G-men being that NYG's conference record was 8-6 and Detroit's would have been 7-5 (getting in by mere %age-points). As much as I also admire that Giants team from that year (LT's rookie year, Parcells and other assistants of Perkins waiting in the wings, Rob Carpenter's tour de force/out of Earl's shadow...), they simply do not beat Dallas in that Saturday finale if the 'Boys had something to play for, 'jinx' jerseys or not!

As for other things to say about the '81 Lions, I admire what they did to Oakland in Wk#4! Yes, the Raiders were 'hungover' albeit 2-1 going in, but shutting out the defending-Champs, 16-0, and sacking Plunkett 5 times still Alpha Dog-like!

And that '12-men' game...look, it should have been called which, basically, would have meant the game going into OT barring a miracle long-distance FG. But its not as if it was a TD play with the '12th-man' scoring. It was a FG attempt. Again, it should have been called, but if the one who was supposed to get to the sideline got to the sideline, the kick still goes in - Lions win! Funny thing about the NFL Films piece...the 12-man thing was vaguely mentioned at the beginning of the Dal/Det highlight, and not mentioned at all at the end of it when the winning kick/celebration was made.

Seeing 'Matter of Seconds', I was reminded that the finale was close, but not quite as close as the final score indicated thus what I thought I remember it as being. Lions scored with about a mintue to go to make it 20-17; I assume the onside-kick attempt failed.

Back again to '83 though this thread is supposed to be about '81 (but let's face it, hard to not think of one of those two Lions seasons without thinking of the other), was just watching an 18 minute montage of the divisional at Candlestick. 5 INTs thrown by Danielson yet next year's 18-1 Super Bowl champions HC'd by Bill Walsh/QB'd by Joe Montana just barely - and I mean barely - beat such a mediocre team at home! And then 11-6 they almost beat 15-2 defending-Champ, Washington, at RFK only for the Redskins to get squashed by the Raiders...that's football.


PS - Keith Dorney, a heck of an Offensive Lineman ("We ARE...")!

PPS - ULYSSES Norris...what a Name!!

One cool thing about the Lions of that era? The silver numbers on the Honolulu blue jerseys.

74_75_78_79_ wrote: ↑Wed Sep 24, 2025 11:52 am Seeing just how high up they are in Fever's recent '85%tile' thread inspires this topic. I have always been fond of this team since that '81 campaign itself.

#3 offense (5.5 Y/P) and #4 defense (4.9) in '81?? Never knew. Of course their double-feather-in-cap are the wins over San Fran & Big D. The only thing that turns me off about them is their road record, an anemic-as-hell 1-7! Yes, 'a loss is a loss', but FWIW they did give the Chargers & Broncos real good games on the road.

End of day, Tampa Bay was indeed the deserving champ of that division. They swept both Detroit and also Green Bay - one lopsided win per sweep. But that de facto 'NFC Central Championship Game' Week #16 at the Silverdome was close, could have gone the other way. I really would have liked to see them take that one. Not sure how they do at Dallas in the divisional, but just the fact that it would have been a rematch of that '12-men' game weeks earlier would have made for intriguing pregame hype. Dallas beating TB in the actual divisional, 38-0, makes you not love Detroit's chances here, but you never know. It still could have been a good game.

I do see this squad as better than their actual 9-7 division winner of '83. Getting off-subject for a sec, to that very season two years later, the other 'instead' playoff match I would have liked to see for 'rematch' purposes, would be Green Bay playing at Washington in the divisional as opposed to the Rams (who, of course, lost that actual divisional at RFK, 51-7). Imagine the Pack, in such a hypo, replicating in the rematch what they did that famous MNF win while Detroit makes that very FG at Candlestick...a Packers at Lions NFCCG!

Anyways, back to '81, the Silver Rush! I would have thought Baker or English would have led Detroit in sacks that year. It was David Pureifory instead at 11.5! He played his very best ball while in the Motor City. The Floyd Peters effect for sure!

Billy Sims and, of course...ERIC HIPPLE!

Thoughts?

EDIT - I see that Pureifory is mentioned in some of Turney's journals.

Wait, this team had a 1-7 road record and they went 8-8, and finished on the 85.19% percentile by my metric (fifth best in a 28 team league)? That has got to be the worst road record for a team that high by the metric.

Detroit in 1981 also has a "luck" rating of -29.63 for finishing with a .500 record, but being great statistically and on the 85th percentile.
They were in a three way tie for the most unlucky team of 1981 with the Steelers and Patriots (who were also both better statistically than their respective records by equivalent margins relative to the league).

I'll explain that set of luck data I came up with in another post.